We know this is not your typical show for the IGN audience, but Life Unexpected is worth taking note of. The CW has been remarkably (and many would say annoyingly) consistent with their new programs, launching one variation on a female-friendly teen/young adult soap after another. But while Life Unexpected centers on a teen girl, it is vastly different in tone from the likes of Gossip Girl and 90210. This likable family drama -- about a product of the foster system reconnecting with the estranged young parents she never knew -- is legitimately sweet and engaging and evokes the late, often great WB network in a way The CW rarely does. If you were a fan of the likes of Felicity, Gilmore Girls or Everwood, you'll likely find Life Unexpected a comforting series.

Even though Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) has already found out which corrupt covert agency "burned" him and managed to free himself from said agency, he's not out of the water yet. His attempts this past summer to reconnect, and get back in good, with the CIA, turned deadly and Michael now finds himself facing the possibility of a new ultimate unseen enemy. When Burn Notice returns at the end of this month for the conclusion of Season 3, we'll all finally get to discover if Michael will be able to choose his life of fighting crime with Fi (Gabrielle Anwar) and Sam (Bruce Campbell) in Miami over his old, desolate life as a stubborn spy. With seven episodes yet to play out, not only will we get treated to the return of Tim Matheson's unsavory spook Larry, but we'll get a Cagney & Lacey reunion when actress Tyne Daly stops by to reunite with her old co-star Sharon Gless.

While there is plenty of debate about the way it ended, there's no doubt Battlestar Galactica secured its place in TV history, thanks to years of gripping, dramatic stories. That being the case, there is both excitement and nervousness surrounding Caprica, the prequel/spinoff to BSG. Taking place 58 years before Galactica began, this series centers on Daniel Graystone (Eric Stoltz), the main architect of the Cylons, along with Joseph Adama (Esai Morales), father to future Galactica commander William Adama. The pilot movie, released on DVD last year, gave us an idea what to expect – hinting at an interesting series that will delve more into complex issues like differing religious beliefs -- including the zealous, scary side -- that BSG was likewise never afraid to tackle. And a plot twist near the end of the pilot let us know that there may be more direct Cylon elements to this series than one expected from what all involved admit will have more of a soap opera dynamic than the series that begat it.

Taking its visual cues and heavy-handed gore from 300, Spartacus: Blood and Sand is set to let it all hang out - literally - on Starz channel this month. Creators Sam Raimi (Spider-Man, Drag Me to Hell) and Rob Tapert (Legend of the Seeker, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys) are ready to push the TV-MA boundaries of pay cable with their former star of Xena: Warrior Princess, Lucy Lawless, as they re-tell the bloody tale of Spartacus (Andy Whitfield), the slave-turned-gladiator-turned-rebel. Sex, gore and more sex abound in this brutal CGI period actioner that will have all of us fanboys feverishly trying to find Starz on the dial. The Mummy's John Hannah and 300's Peter Mensah round out the ravenous cast.

The second season of Secret Diary left things off with Hannah/Belle writing a book and completing a book tour, then seemingly heading right back into the call girl business. We expect the series' 8-episode third season to have plenty of sex and identity questions like usual, but perhaps with a bit of self-referential commentary now that the true identity of Belle has been revealed in real-life.

If the opening line of the Damages theme song, "When I'm Through With You," sends waves of excitement through you, then you've got a the same love for the hyper-dark, salacious legal world of Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) that we do. It seems, given the ending of Season 2, that Rose Byne's Ellen Parson's might have found a bit of closure as it pertains to the assassins sent by her boss/mentor, Patty, at the end of Season 1. But who knows? When hired goons try to kill you and wind up killing your fiancé instead, we think you're pretty much set for life in the "emotional trauma" department. With Season 2 less than a month away, we're still not clear on the overall story – and the amazingly assorted guest cast of Campbell Scott (Royal Pains, Singles), Martin Short, Lily Tomlin and Keith Carradine (Dexter) isn't exactly helping our guessing game any. We're pretty sure about one thing however. That it will be a cold day in hell before we ever see Ellen work for Hewes & Associates again. We would like to see an encore of Season 2's breakout surprise, however - Darrell Hammond's bizarrely effective bagman, The Deacon.

Can't. Hardly. Wait. Look, we can all try and be stuffy, semi-intellectual critics of the televisual medium – even those of us that happen to be TV critics. But the anticipation for Lost's sixth and final season is almost too much to contain. No other show on this list has as much of a built-in rabid fan base and no other show rocked us all with the just the mere mention of its return date. ABC has done a good job of adhering to the wishes of executive producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof by not using any new episode footage for advertising – even if its use might mean an even bigger buzz. We can't wait to see exactly what the ramifications of the Season 5 finale, "The Incident," are and we eagerly await the (rumored) return of long lost, and dead, past-season cast members (Dominic Monaghan, Ian Somerhalder, Michelle Rodriquez and more). Smoke Monsters? Shadow Factions? The Man in Black? Bring it on. We're ready to pretend (in front of our friends, on chat boards) to be let down by all the questions that go unanswered as we secretly bask in the joy of the heartily satisfying conclusion to a great series.

After Comedy Central demanded that The Sarah Silverman Show cut its budget by a whopping 20% last March, Silverman herself threatened to walk. But it was all quickly resolved when sister cable network Logo came in and agreed to help co-finance the show. So after being off the air for a whole year, Silverman's flighty smile and foul mouth will return for 10 new episodes in February, where we're sure she'll continue to delight and offend on equal levels.

Whether you're a fan of this cop series or not, its scenario definitely deserves some spotlighting. After a brief, midseason run last year on NBC, the network renewed the series for a second season. But six episodes into production, NBC cancelled Southland - despite not airing a single Season 2 episode. NBC received widespread criticism for this move, which seemed to be another result of the "Leno effect," now that the network had five hours less space for scripted series thanks to The Jay Leno Show - and said they felt the content of Southland was inappropriate for the earlier timeslots they had left. Enter TNT, who came in and rescued the series. The cable station will begin airing Southland on January 12th, beginning with Season 1, and then debut the six unaired Season 2 episodes on March 2nd. Should the series be a success for TNT, more episodes will likely be ordered.